Dupre to once again attempt Mount McKinley summit in January

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Lonnie Dupre of Grand Marais is planning a third attempt to become the first person to reach the summit of Alaska’s Mount McKinley in January. Dupre will make the attempt in January 2013. His two previous attempts in 2012 and 2011 were thwarted by severe weather.

Only nine expeditions totaling 16 people have ever reached the summit of Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, in winter. Six deaths resulted from those climbs. Only one team (composed of three Russian climbers) has ever made the summit in January. Of those nine original expeditions, four were solo, but none of the solos was in January, the darkest and coldest time.

Dupre reached 17,200 feet during the climb in 2011 before he was pinned down by high winds and ran low on food. McKinley is 20,320 feet in elevation.

Earlier this year, Dupre decided to call off his second attempt after being pinned down for a week by hurricane-force winds at 14,200 feet.

To read more about Dupre’s plans for this winter, go to his website, www.oneworldendeavors.com, and click on “Expeditions.”

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